Military missions and emergency responses often lead to situations and locations where electronic data and communication is either unavailable or dangerous to transmit. As a result, soldiers and first responders continue to rely upon printed media, such as navigational maps or charts, while in the field. Often, the information provided by the printed media must be accessed under adverse conditions that include multitasking within moving vehicles or outdoor environments that can include heavy rain or blowing sand.
Several attempts have been made to develop products that protect and display printed media. These products seek to allow the user to access information without having to unfold a map or refer to a stored document or paper template. Each of the existing products, however, has one or more characteristics that can be improved.
For example, envelope-type map pouches are flexible so they can be rolled or folded into compact configurations for transport. Flexible map pouches alone, however, do not readily permit marking or writing on the pouch when a table is not available to support the pouch. Even when a solid support is available, attempting to write on a flexible surface layer can cause the marked surface to shift relative to the printed media inside the pouch.
Other map display apparatuses have hard surfaces sandwiching the printed media. These hard surfaces may provide improved writing surfaces, but these rigid devices typically require being folded and unfolded to protect and display the printed material contained within. These rigid holders are often limited in their employment by their solid structure and rigid composition.
Therefore, there remains an opportunity to further improve upon existing printed media display and storage products.